GAME BIRDS SUITABLE FOR NATURALIZING 



13 



REEVES'S PHEASANT 



Reeves's pheasant (Syrmaticus reevesii) (fig. 9) is one of the 

 handsomest of its family and the largest of the true pheasants, the 

 long white-and-blaek barred tail alone of the male sometimes attain- 

 ing a length of 6 feet. Marco Polo, the famous Venetian traveler of 

 the thirteenth century, evidently saw Reeves's pheasant. In the 

 language and orthography of his original translator he is made to 

 state : " There be plenty of Feysants, and very greate, for 1 of them 

 is as big as 2 of ours, with tayles of eyght, 9 and tenne spannes long, 

 from the Kingdom of Erguyl or Arguill, the W. side of Tartary." 

 This description is applicable only to the magnificent Reeves's pheas- 

 ant, or " arrow fowl " of the Chinese, so-called from the appearance 



Figure 10. — Lady Amherst pheasant 



of these long-tailed birds in flight. This species usually occurs in 

 small coveys, and for pace and strength of flight has no equal among 

 pheasants. The males are great fighters, but their habit of drifting 

 toward high points in their range keeps them separate for the most 

 part from the common pheasant, which tends toward low ground. 

 Reeves's pheasant is hardy and inhabits rugged mountainous country 

 of from 2,000 to 5,000 feet altitude in central China. The southern 

 Alleghenies and the northern California coast ranges seem to offer 

 conditions similar to its native home, but it is probable that the 

 species will thrive in rough and wild areas anywhere in the humid 

 sections of moderate temperatures in the United States. 



